Bubbly Universe
Science brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.
In a universe with the same physical laws, but which is mostly water with little bubbles in it, do the bubbles attract, repel, or what?
Answer
A bubble should produce a gravitational field that is the negative of that produced by an equal volume of water in an empty universe. This is because a point in space would be affected only by the water in the symmetric image of the bubble with respect to that point. The effect on another bubble in that field would be to attract that bubble since it would be pushing the water around it away. Therefore, the bubbles should attract.
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Comments
(user deleted)
Feb 24, 2004
| So, if the bubbles attracted, wouldn't they just all merge? Or why wouldn't they expand into each other anyway, since there'd be way less pressure in space. I didn't follow the point of this one.  |
Redsausage
Feb 24, 2004
|  huh |
curtiss82  
Feb 25, 2004
| Jake, did anybody read this or did you just go ahead and approve it yourself. It absolutely makes no sense. |
unklemyke  
Mar 01, 2004
| You need to re-think your answer - what force caused/causes the bubbles ? If there is nothing agitating the water and causing bubbles to re-form continually, the controlling factor is the incompressibility of the water, which will cause the bubbles to coalesce. The water, a much denser medium, will have the greater gravitic attraction pulling its molecules together, negating any forces acting on the bubbles -
You're looking at the wrong ingredient here,
Don't think of the bubbles, consider the beer! |
hersheykiss8908
Jun 27, 2004
| i can sum this all up in one word: WHAT!?!? |
the_lost_one
May 11, 2005
| erm... yeah sure ok... i got the answer but that was just odd |
drussel3
Jun 02, 2005
| Wouldn't the force of the bubble trying to escape (floating to the top) be greater than any attraction bubble to bubble. Can we have a scientist look at this one. |
Ozymandias
Jul 22, 2005
| Huh?? Can someone take a second look at this answer, please?? It makes no sense.   |
Kukmiester
Jul 25, 2005
| you must be high!   |
BrieCheese
Nov 27, 2005
| that makes no sense |
calmsavior
Sep 30, 2006
| it was logical enough for me |
stil
Dec 20, 2006
| So many sensible laws must be suspended, there is no making sense of those which are left! It seems to me a universe of water would rapidly become a black hole. |
t4mt
Feb 22, 2007
| I hate to break it to you, but you ppls obviously don't get what's in several books! |
dxdynamite
Oct 01, 2009
| Unless the cosmolgical constant was much higher than our own, such a universe would have collapsed seconds after its birth. The bubbles would have a similar effect. |
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